"Today, the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service Board is confronting issues that arise from an unacceptable and worrying case of failed renal surgery early this year," Mr Springborg said.

"A surgeon, required to remove a diseased kidney from the left side of a patient, removed the right kidney instead.

"Systems to protect patients from botched surgery are fundamental to clinical practice.

"A second patient of this surgeon was transported to Brisbane late last week.

"The patient is in a stable condition with some post-surgery complications and was transported to provide access to a urologist should specialist treatment be required."

A surgeon, required to remove a diseased kidney from the left side of a patient, removed the right kidney instead.

Health Minister Lawrence Springborg

Mr Springborg said the process of credentialing doctors was "complex" and that they underwent "regular performance-based peer review and analysis of their surgical outcomes, including mortality and morbidity".

Mr Springborg said the hospital board had launched "an independent inquiry, convened under the Hospital and Health Boards Act", and contacted the Health Quality and Complaints Commission to investigate any wider systemic issues.

He said the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Queensland Board of the Medical Board of Australia would also investigate.

Mr Ware insists the hospital board acted as promptly as possible.

"There's no cover up. We've been open and, as I said to you, this board doesn't do cover up, we don't do denial," he said.

"It is obvious that we have systemic failure in patient safety systems, so we have taken action to address those - firstly by terminating the appointment of the executive director of medical services and the director of surgery.

"The surgeon remains stood down, and won't be practising surgery in this hospital again, and we are also going to have a total review of our patient safety systems to ensure that any shortcomings are rectified."

Dr Vega Vega has also volunteered to suspend work at Rockhampton's Catholic-run Mater Hospital.

The Mercy Health and Aged Care service says the surgeon has treated more than 800 patients at the hospital and that a review has found no unusual or concerning clinical outcomes.

Questions raised about safety in regional hospitals: MP

Queensland Health was locked in court battles with foreign-trained doctor Jayant Patel for years over the deaths and serious injury of patients at the Bundaberg Hospital.

It points to a system failure, and a repeated system failure, and then you've got to go back to the quality systems that are evident in the health system.

MP Bill Byrne

The charges were ultimately dropped, but he was convicted of fraud for dishonestly gaining registration and employment in Queensland.

"It points to a system failure, and a repeated system failure, and then you've got to go back to the quality systems that are evident in the health system," he said.

"A once-off, I suppose, can be looked at as human error, but when you have repeated events, that should be just sending most of the system into overload about what is wrong with the way in which procedures have been undertaken."

Mr Byrne says the other cases should have been disclosed much earlier and central Queensland residents deserve more information.

"The Government's explanations to this point have been less than thorough and less than honest," he said.

"We have called on the Health Minister today to provide open, frank and honest answers to our questions."